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Strengthening and detoxing

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional! None of what I write is intended as medical advice.

I wanted to share some of what I am doing lately. I have been feeling a lot better, but I have lingering hip pain. Some of it is due to degeneration in my sacrum, but some is due to hypermobility and sore muscles and tendons. So with my doctors, I decided physical therapy was a good option.

I also have been feeling better overall, but was dealing with some deconditioning due to being bed-bound and so sick for so long. So physical therapy has helped me work on specific muscles to strengthen. I think this is important before I get into more intense activities. I eventually hope to be able to do more activities (yoga, kayaking, skiing, etc), but I just know if I go at it too fast, I’ll be laid up unable to walk much and I don’t want to be there so I have to go slow.

Another thing I added into my routine was a infrared sauna. I got one second hand from another Lyme patient. She was very generous. It is the type you sit in and then zip up around you. These are good for small apartments. I have been trying to use it 2-3 times a week. I wish I could do it daily but it requires me sitting around and sometimes if I have energy I just wanna do things not sit. It’s a good problem, I know.

I have always felt really good after infrared saunas. Prior to this one, I’ve used wooden ones in health clubs. The difference between infrared saunas and regular saunas is that with the infrared sauna you sweat more and it heats the body quicker than the air so you can stay in longer. The goal is the raise the body core temperature. Raising your body temperature can help fight illness. Since I’ve felt better, my body temperature has been up into the 98’s instead of 96 or 97.

It is supposed to detoxify you as well. There are different pathways to detoxify: lungs, liver, kidney, colon, skin. Sauna should help you detoxify through the skin. I don’t have any evidence that I am less toxic afterwards, and I definitely would never omit my liver detoxification program, but I will say the more you can do the better and if it makes you feel good, that’s a bonus!

Speaking of detoxing through the skin, I also use a dry skin brush to help my lymph system move out the gunk. It’s something easy I can do for a few minutes while I wait for the hot water in my shower to warm up (oh the fun of living in a cold climate). It exfoliates the skin and moves the lymph. You always want to brush towards the heart, as a generalization, or follow the lines on the chart below. You tube also has some good videos.

So that’s my routine. What do you do to strengthen? To detox?

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6 thoughts on “Strengthening and detoxing”

great post! i’ve randomly been doing stretches/light yoga while i’m babysitting, while i’m playing with kati, after i get up from sitting a while. i think it’s helping with my aches and pains. i’ve also started dry brushing again. thanks for posting that chart!

I’m really sorry to post this here but I couldn’t find your ‘About’ page or contact info and your twitter widget isn’t working for me…

I’ve been awarded the Shine On Award for blogs that readers generally enjoy and as part of the protocol I’ve passed the award on to 15 other blogs as well.

The Shine On Award is a process where a blogger is ‘tagged’ by a blogger who has received the award and then if they accept it writes a post. In that post they let readers get to know them a bit better by posting 7 random facts about themselves and then recommending 15 blogs.

As yours is a blog I enjoy and admire I’ve ‘tagged’ you as one of my awardees. I hope you don’t mind and whether you join in the game or not is your choice.